10k Personal Record, Made Some New Running Buddies

Sunday, October 27, 2013

I finally got around to uploading photos to Facebook from my now ex and I’s trip over Labor Day weekend. Funny looking at that how unhealthy I looked. Also funny that I am now at my lowest weight in six months…and he and I dated for six months. Funny how I feel so much more organized and overall happier without him. The break-up sucked. It was hard it get someone out of my system that had been such a big part of things for so long. But those pictures really showed me once again I made the right decision. One of us had to be strong and do the breaking-up…it wasn’t going a good direction.

That being said, I had posted about carpooling to this 10k race today on the running club’s web page. Mind you, I haven’t had the best luck with the running club here in town. I have written about it previously, so I won’t spend much time discussing it. That being said, I had one person respond a while back. He and I started talking about arrangements this week. He needed to get a doctor’s approval after dealing with a knee injury for the past month. Well, he got the approval and we decided to carpool together.

Upon going to add him on Facebook, I started laughing…I realized that he was a big fan of my hometown sports teams. I asked him where he was from, and it turned out he was from the same area as I am. So not only were we now runner friends, but we were also friends over something else…home sports!

Another guy decided to join our carpool. It turns out that this gentleman was actually running his first 10k race, so we were all excited for that. We talked in the car ride over to the race. I think we pretty much agreed that it was odd that no one else had responded about carpooling…especially since we knew like ten other people from the group were going to be going to this race. One of the guys asserted that it was because there was an “inner core” to the group. We couldn’t really figure out how long you needed to run with the group to be in the “inner core.” Or if you could even get into the inner core. Or if it had to do with ability. But we all definitely felt it.

The race was fun, but a little bit challenging for me in two regards…the first being that the course was driving me a bit crazy. There wasn’t really anything to look at but some nice houses with nice landscaping and cool Halloween decorations. And the course was not an out and back. Instead, it seemed to zig zag all over this town…so I started feeling like a robot, just following the runners ahead of me. The other thing was that, around mile 4, my chest started tightening. I knew I was going to start wheezing, which I did about the last mile or so of the course. I had remembered my inhaler this time, so I wondered if I just was having trouble getting used to the cold.

One thing really helped me push through these two things…and that was having my new running buddy (the first one I mentioned) with me. He wanted to stay with me because he was having trouble with his injured knee although he got the all clear to run. So, we paced fairly evenly but he probably could have gone a lot faster. Instead, he had just recently met me and wanted to run with me. I doubt he will want to run the next race with me if he’s feeling better, but I really needed it this race. It helped when he mentioned things from back home to talk about. I kind of started forgetting about the mental monotony of the course and the fact that I was really struggling with my chest tightness, and later on wheezing.

Another thing that helped was knowing our other carpool buddy was at a prearranged spot at the finish. We finished and found him, then later some of the others from the running club. One of them drove by himself, so it was odd that he didn’t say anything about a carpool.
Instead of eating brunch with the group, the three of us went on to a breakfast place a little further away to avoid the crowds. We further discussed how odd the carpool thing was, and agreed that the next race we do in three weeks in the same town the three of us will carpool again.

As a runner, I guess it’s probably surprising that my only other 10k I have ever done was ¬¬two years ago. And, I was miserably sick during it. I probably shouldn’t have run. That was literally the worst race I ever ran. So I knew already today was most likely going to be a PR unless something went wrong. In fact, it was. My previous 10k time from 2011 was 1:22:53. Today I ran in 1:16:09. I was hoping to be around 1 hour thirteen minutes, but I guess that’s why I am going to run another one next month. So far I am liking the 10k distance as opposed to 5k since it’s longer, for one haha, but for two it’ll keep me in better shape for January when I get to start training for half marathons again. (I wrote earlier about cutting back mileage due to having a busy and rough semester ahead of me.)
So I had a really great time doing my first Halloween race in costume. There are a few things I would like to say…1)I am not the only one who has had issues with the local running club. It helps that the two guys today feel that it’s an “inner core” issue rather than a faster runner versus slower runner issue. 2) I am thinking I am not going to be so into to developing training plans for the rest of the semester. I have noticed I seem to train better when I just decide to do whatever mileage I feel like (minimum three miles) every other day, and strength train every other day. If I can stick to this until the half marathon training program begins in January, I will be happy.

I will leave you about this…it’s not about the destination, but the journey. I know that’s cliché, but I say it here since so many times those of us who are not naturally talented athletes, such as myself, forget that. I have done it when I have seen people who barely train and go out and run crazy fast races. So what if I put so much time and training in only to be lapped by someone who may hardly train? It doesn’t matter. I am bettering myself in the long run, and importantly, having fun doing so.

I've considered joining a running club but worried that I may not fit in. This summer I followed a training program for a Half at the Detroit Freep Run. That week I was sick and decided to pass on it. After reading about your experience, I'm happy I did.